Despite suffering bruised knee on her right leg, Failuna Abdi braved the pain and emerged a hero after she won the 5 kilometres women’s race at the Karatu Sports Festival on Saturday.
Failuna fell half way into the race, sustaining minor injuries and she continued with the race in a time of 17 minutes, 51; seconds. 47 points. She finished above established runners including Mary Naali, who finished third in a time of 18:20.64.
The second place went to Catherine Lange in a time of 18:03.30. “It was a tough race and I expected a tough challenge from both Lange and Naali. They are such quality runners and winning against them is a great motivation to me,” she said.
In men’s category, Fabian Nelson defeated Uhuru Half Marathon winner Fabian Joseph, after he emerged winner of the 10 km race. Nelson, from CCP Moshi posted a time of 30: 58.59 to win at the 13th edition of the annual festival. Joseph, who won Uhuru Half Marathon on December 7, this year in Dar es Salaam, settled second on Friday in a time of 31:22.60.
He was on the front foot from the start but failed to finish on a high only to allow Nelson to sneak with a top prize. In 30km cycling race (women), Sofia Hussein from Arusha finished in a time of 1:30.14, while Sofia Adison also from Arusha came second posting 1:31.17.
The third place went to Jamila Jumanne from Arusha after spending 1:57.07. Arusha were also dominant in the men’s category 60km cycling race, as Richard Laizer won the top honours, posting 1:45,49, 82.
The second place went to Paulo Didas from Arusha (1:45.54.05) and Thomas Hoden also from Arusha finished third in a time of 1;47.49.76. Apart from athletics and cycling race, athletes also competed in football, netball and volleyball competitions.
At least 200 athletes competed in this year’s Karatu Sports Festival, which was graced by Athletics Tanzania (AT) president, who is also Mvomero District Commissioner (DC), Anthony Mtaka.
He presented awards to the winners and praised the event organisers. It is organised by the Filbert Bayi Foundation (FBF) and sponsored by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) through the Tanzania Olympic Committee (TOC).
BY COSMAS MLEKANI, Tanzania Daily News